"Lost Treasures of Egypt" (2019–2020): Season 3, Episode 3 - Ramses Rise to Power - full transcript

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Buried
deep underground,

an ancient Egyptian
tomb from the time of

Ramses the Great.

This bricked up entrance
has been undisturbed for

nearly 3,000 years, until now.

OLA (off-screen): Are we going
to be able to get in, yes?

Oh, my god.
It is dark.

It looks very, very deep.

NARRATOR: What's revealed
is a surprise to even

the most experienced
archaeologist.



OLA: Oh, la, la. Yes.
Ooh, beautiful. My god.

NARRATOR: Ramses the Second,

known as Ramses the Great
was one of the most

powerful and successful
rulers of the ancient world.

He reigned for 66 years,

expanded Egypt's borders
and built more monuments and

temples than
any other Pharaoh.

How did he become
such a mighty king,

and build a legacy that
has lasted three millennia?

Today across Egypt,

archaeologists are digging up
evidence from his life,

and those that served him,

as they attempt to uncover
the secrets of Ramses

rise to power.



Most ancient
Egyptians never saw

Ramses the Great
in the flesh,

but his image
was everywhere.

To investigate how
Ramses made his presence

felt across his Empire,

American hieroglyphs expert
and vintage clothes collector,

Colleen Darnell,

ventures to one of his
most impressive achievements,

Karnak Temple.

COLLEEN: The sheer
scale of this temple

is just overwhelming.

This is one of the
most impressive spaces

in the world.

You can read all the numbers,

how high the columns are,
how many there are,

and I especially love
the color on the ceilings.

You have to stand here
in order to appreciate

its magnificence.

NARRATOR: When
Ramses came to power,

Karnak was already a
temple complex the size of

75 football fields,

and held a sacred
lake larger than seven

Olympic swimming pools.

One temple, called
the Temple of Amun-Re,

was big enough to hold
ten Gothic cathedrals

within its walls,
but Ramses wanted more,

so he completed a masterpiece
begun by his father:

a vast building whose
roof rests on pillars,

a great Hypostyle hall.

It's one of the largest
religious rooms ever built.

So what can this sacred
temple reveal about what made

Ramses such a powerful
and memorable leader?

Around 30 different
Pharaohs helped build Karnak,

making modifications over one
and a half thousand years.

But the writing on the temple
walls tells a different story.

COLLEEN: There's one name
I see more than any other,

and that is Ramses.

This is the cartouche
of Ramses II.

We see it again all
around this column.

We see it on this column,
pretty confidently nearly

every column in this side
of the Hypo-style Hall has

multiple examples of
the name of Ramses II.

NARRATOR: 134 sandstone
columns tower up to

66 feet high.

Recent analysis shows every
single one is inscribed with

Ramses name and
stories of his life.

He didn't just help build the
most iconic room in the temple,

he made sure
everybody knew it.

But many of Egypt's kings
built big monuments.

Colleen wants to see what
else Ramses did to make

his reign so special.

Clues to his epic
achievements are carved

into the temple walls.

COLLEEN:
This wall's just amazing.

It's filled with the military
victories of Ramses II.

We have him fighting
in a chariot,

then he's bringing his
captives in and presenting

them to the god Amun, the
god here at Karnak temple.

And over here he's
smiting foes from the

four corners of the world.

He truly wanted to be
known as a warrior Pharaoh.

NARRATOR: As a young Prince,

Ramses accompanied his
father Seti the First

on military campaigns,

gaining experience
of leadership and war.

He became king while
still a teenager,

and took command of
the Egyptian military,

an army of 100,000 men.

He personally led them onto
the battlefield against the

Hittite Empire of Kadesh,

and returned home
proclaiming victory.

But his campaigns
continued throughout

his long reign,

as he expanded and
strengthened Egypt's control,

earning a fearsome
reputation as a

mighty warrior king.

COLLEEN (off-screen):
This is an incredible scene.

We see Ramses in his chariot
and he's pulling an enemy off

of his own chariot,

and is about to pierce
him with a spear.

And all this is taking place
outside of the Syrian city,

so this shows Ramses extending
the boundaries of Egypt.

Ramses, like other Pharaohs,

put his military
victories on temple walls,

because it was a way of
showing the triumph of Egypt,

the triumph of order over
chaos represented by foreigners.

NARRATOR: These scenes,

together with other
ancient evidence,

suggest Ramses really did
fight alongside his men,

unlike many Pharaohs
who made similar boasts,

but never actually
fought themselves.

His bravery and tactical
skill were central
to his rise to power,

but is there
more to Ramses rule than

just military might?

In Luxor's Deir El-Bahari,
where Ramses buried many of

his nobles at the sprawling
tomb complex of Asasif,

Egyptian archaeologist
Fathi Yaseen leads a team

excavating deep below
the desert sand.

Fathi wants to find out why
they chose this specific
location for their necropolis,

and what it can reveal
about Ramses long reign.

FATHI: We have here a lot
of temples, thousand of tombs.

NARRATOR: Fathi
doesn't just run this dig,

he oversees every antiquity
site on Luxor's west bank,

and has done for 30 years.

Born and bred just north of
Luxor, it was his childhood
dream to work in Egyptology.

FATHI: My job is very busy, but
for us it is exciting work.

Why? Because maybe
what we find here...

adds for Egyptology

more information
for the ancient history.

NARRATOR: The location of
these burials is very

unusual and mysterious.

On Luxor's west bank,
ancient Egyptian elites mostly

buried their dead high
up on hillsides,

so people would
look up to them,

even in death.

But here at As-Asif, the tombs
are right on the valley floor.

FATHI: Why choose this area?

Why choose to locate
the tombs in this area?

What's importance
of this area?

NARRATOR: Last season,
Fathi and his team discovered

the beautifully decorated
cartinage of an elite.

He thinks it's the
tip of the iceberg,

and means there's an important
undiscovered tomb nearby.

It could contain priceless
treasure and inscriptions

with information about
the tomb owner that might
help explain the tomb's

strange location.

Starting from a simple mud
brick wall in the sand,

Fathi's excavations reveal
the outline of a huge tomb.

Now Fathi and his
team need to find the

tomb's underground doorway.

FATHI: It is very exciting for
us to see this entrance

but what's behind this entrance?
We don't know yet.

NARRATOR: Workers
painstakingly remove debris

from the tomb's mud-brick
outline on ground level.

FATHI: We are working under
nearly 40 degrees. It is hot.

NARRATOR: Despite the 104
degree Fahrenheit conditions,

they work quickly to reveal
a 65-foot long corridor,

but have no idea
how deep it is.

It could take weeks to
reach bedrock and the tomb's

underground entrance.

FATHI: Our concentration
now is to recognize what
is behind the debris.

It is very exciting
moment for us.

NARRATOR: Fathi and his team
have many tons of sand to shift,

but they keep an eye out for
any clues hidden in the dust.

FATHI: Part of a ushabti.

It's a very good indication
because it means

we are working in the
right position to find the

entrance of the tomb.

NARRATOR: At the Saqqara
Necropolis on the outskirts

of Cairo, in front of
the world's oldest pyramid,

Egyptian archaeologist
Ola El Aguizy,

is exploring the tombs
of Ramses generals.

OLA: I love my work I'm doing.

I really love it.

NARRATOR: To rule
an expanding empire,

you need loyal soldiers and
Ola hopes to find out how

Ramses rewarded those who
supported his rise to power.

OLA (off-screen):
This is a family burial,
the whole area.

It's clear that
they're all related.

It's just a real puzzle.

NARRATOR: Grandmother
Ola came to archaeology

50 years ago through
her love of hieroglyphics.

She spent the last 15 years
exploring these ancient tombs,

mostly with the same
trusty team of workers.

OLA: Every day we come
here we have a surprise.

We have something new to find.

NARRATOR: This season
Ola's excavating an

impressive temple tomb.

It belongs to a senior
general called Iwrkhy.

OLA: Iwrkhy was known to
be a very important general

in the army of Ramses II.

That's why I'm very
keen on this excavation of

this tomb this year.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists
believe Iwrkhy and
his family came from Syria,

traveling to
Egypt for a better life.

Iwrkhy was quickly accepted
into Egyptian society,

serving as a general to
Ramses father Seti the First,

then later as right-hand
man to Ramses himself,

fighting at the Pharaoh's
side and leading the army.

When Iwrkhy died, he was
buried in a large tomb of

classically Egyptian design.

So how did Ramses reward
those who contributed most

to his success?

To find out, Ola's team
searches an area on the south

of the site in the hope of
uncovering more about Ramses

generals and the
mysterious foreigner Iwrkhy,

who Ramses trusted enough
to let him lead his army.

On the dig, Ola's hard
work eventually pays off.

As the team
excavates Iwrkhy's tomb,

they discover a shaft carved
26-feet deep into the rocks.

It leads to a small
antechamber from which another

shaft drops 39-feet
down to what must be

Iwrkhy's burial chamber.

The team finds it empty,
no sign of grave goods,

coffins or mummies.

But then, they
discover something extremely

promising higher up.

The wall of the first
antechamber looks like it's

been ripped up
in ancient times.

What could lie
hidden behind it?

OLA: I need to
know every part of the tomb

and if there are later
burials also, I need to know.

NARRATOR: Today, Ola will
go inside the antechamber

for the first time.

But to get there, she
must descend a perilous
26-foot deep shaft,

the old fashioned way,

with a wooden winch
operated by hand.

OLA: See how strong they are?

NARRATOR: The workers
must carefully lower her down

in a bucket.

OLA: I'm, I'm used
to that and I like it.

Oh la la.

NARRATOR: Ola descends down
the long dark shaft into a

partly unexplored tomb.

If anything goes
wrong with the hand winch
supporting the bucket,

the fall could kill her.

OLA: Oh la la.

(speaking in native language)

Fantastic.

NARRATOR: The tomb
belongs to one of
Ramses most senior generals,

a man named Iwrkhy.

Ola wants to investigate
how this foreigner became

Ramses' head general.

She thinks this could reveal
how the generals helped Ramses

to become the most
powerful Pharaoh of all time,

and how Ramses
rewarded them in return.

Today, she hopes to enter
a new part of the tomb

for the first time in
nearly three millennia,

but its entrance
is blocked up.

Ola believes ancient workers
left the loose bricks simply

to hold up the
fragile ceiling.

Her team must remove
the blocks carefully.

The ancient ceiling above
them could easily collapse.

OLA (off-screen): Are we going
to be able to get in, yes?

NARRATOR: With a
small space clear,

Ola can finally look inside.

OLA: Oh, my God.

Oh la la.

There are lots and lots
of other galleries inside.

It's a maze.

It looks very, very deep.

NARRATOR:
Behind the wall is a tomb.

It's much bigger than
they first thought,

and it's full of debris.

It's a potential treasure
trove of items that could

reveal vital information
about General Iwrkhy.

OLA (off-screen): With my
tabs on burials hidden inside,

I'm optimistic I will
find lots of things.

OLA: No, no, no!

NARRATOR: But, it's pitch
black and dangerous shafts

could lie hidden
below the sand.

OLA (off-screen):
They are getting the lamp,

which is in the other
shaft so that we can take

it with us inside.

That's Nadar my assistant.

He's just checking to see
because this the first time.

He, he wants to be sure
that we can go in safely.

Okay?

It is, it is
safe, yeah, Nadar?

Okay.

So, I am going to enter now.

NARRATOR: Once inside,
Ola discovers an astonishing

number of
funerary alabaster jars.

These contain mummified food
and wine for the deceased to

live on in the afterlife.

OLA: That's fantastic.

That shows that this
is a rich burial, yes.

(speaking in native language).

OLA: Oh, yes, show me.

NARRATOR: More tunnels lead
off from the main chamber.

OLA: Woo, you see,
look, look inside.

There is still
another passage here.

NARRATOR:
It is not just a tomb.

It's a catacomb
with half a dozen tombs
connected together.

OLA: Come, come, come.

NARRATOR:
A once in a decade find.

OLA: My God.

Remains of skeleton
with a skull.

Oh my God.

NARRATOR:
In Luxor's Deir EL-Bahari
at the Asasif Acropolis,

Fathi's excavating
a 66-foot-long entrance

corridor of an ancient tomb.

The area is rich with the
burials of Ramses' nobles,

and Fathi wants to know
what these tombs reveal about

Ramses reign as Pharaoh.

To find out, Fathi hopes to
solve the mystery of why tomb

owners chose this site
on the valley floor.

They've now reached nearly
ten feet below ground level

at the end of the corridor.

As he searches for
the tomb's entrance,

he uncovers clues
in the debris.

(speaking in native language)

FATHI: Wow.

FATHI: This pottery is very
nice, we will keep this pottery

and will take it
to the conservation area.

NARRATOR: As Fathi's team
gets close to what they
hope is the tomb entrance,

they discover funerary
treasures that prove they

are on the right track.

FATHI: Yeah, wow, it's a
ushabti, mostly complete one

representing a man standing in
the same position, like this.

NARRATOR: Ancient Egyptians
believe these tiny figures,

called ushabtis would come
to life and serve the tomb's

occupant in the afterlife.

FATHI:
It is very good, nice one.

NARRATOR:
As the team excavates,

the sandy rock debris changes
to smooth white limestone.

FATHI: Wow.

NARRATOR: The top of
the tomb's entrance door.

FATHI: It's a very
exciting moment for us.

NARRATOR: Fathi hopes
the tomb will hold clues,

such as inscriptions that
reveal why the tomb owner

chose such a low-lying site,
when most tombs for the elite

are in the hillsides that
surround a necropolis.

The team must work quickly
in the scorching heat

to remove the rocks
blocking the entrance.

FATHI: Very hot.

NARRATOR: In this
low-lying valley,

temperatures can reach up
to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Luckily for Fathi,
there's not long to go.

FATHI: We will reach the
entrance for the first time.

So we are very proud now.

NARRATOR: With the first
limestone blocks removed,

Fathi can finally look inside.

FATHI: Wow.

NARRATOR:
In Luxor's Karnak temple,

Colleen is hunting for
clues that explain Ramses

rise to power.

Ramses was a mighty warrior
and general who fought in many

campaigns and expanded
Egypt's borders to the

east and south.

But the temple walls suggest
that's not the only reason he

became so powerful.

COLLEEN: This is a
remarkable document.

It's the actual
text to a Peace Treaty.

NARRATOR: This 3,300 year
old wall holds 38 lines of

hieroglyphic inscriptions
that lay out in detail

the world's
first Peace Treaty,

an unprecedented promise of

alliance between Ramses
and his mortal enemies,

the Hittites.

COLLEEN: It's amazing to see
the text of an actual Treaty.

This is the document that
two great powers signed.

Egypt on one hand and the
Hittites on the other.

NARRATOR: This proves that
Ramses didn't just fight wars,

he ended them too.

Peace allowed Egypt to
proper and for Ramses

to get richer
and more powerful.

COLLEEN: This tells us how
neither the Hittites nor the

Egyptians could
attack one another,

and if they were attacked
by a third party,

they would come to
their allies' aid.

NARRATOR: The
Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty,

or the Treaty of Kadesh,
meant Ramses could finally

end his 20-year war
with the Hittites.

COLLEEN: Wars are quite costly,
so by having peace,

Ramses is guaranteeing stability
and prosperity in his reign.

NARRATOR: This allowed Ramses
to focus on gathering wealth

and building temples and
monuments that celebrated his

mighty achievements.

COLLEEN (off-screen): A lot
of Pharaohs, including Ramses,

used propaganda, but in the
case of the Peace Treaty,

these are real terms
with a real foreign king,

so this shows Ramses wanted
everyone to know that he

was a great diplomat.

NARRATOR: Ramses
demonstrated himself to
be the ultimate king,

and his choice of Karnak
to proclaim as such

was no accident.

COLLEEN (off-screen):
I think Ramses is
showing the Peace Treaty here

at Karnak precisely
to contrast with

his military exploits.

He does what he needs
to do to preserve order

on behalf of Egypt's gods.

NARRATOR: Ramses was a warrior
king and a diplomat who ruled

over an extraordinary period
of peace and prosperity.

But that still doesn't
explain how he became so

powerful that we're
still repeating his
name 3,000 years later.

At the historic Egyptian
museum in Cairo,

French archaeologist,

Simon Connor and
Egyptian conservator,

Eid Mertah, are
investigating how he wielded

power across his kingdom,
using ancient propaganda.

SIMON: Here Ramses,
here also Ramses.

NARRATOR: Ramses built
thousands of statues and

placed them
strategically across Egypt.

Most are now in museums,
and around 90 of them are

here in Cairo.

Some of them have never
been studied up close.

SIMON: Being able
to almost touch them

to be a few centimeters
away from their faces

it's quite emotional actually.

NARRATOR: Simon and Eid
think they might be hiding

secrets in plain sight.

By studying the details
of the stone work,

they hope to discover how
Ramses used his statues to

increase his power.

Colossal statues of
Pharaohs were a common sight

for ancient
Egyptians, with temples,

cities and palaces guarded by
these giant granite figures.

Master sculptors worked
on them for months
with stone tools,

refining the detail
with copper chisels,

and finally polishing them
to a smooth finish with sand.

They were more than
just works of art.

They were magical avatars
that allowed the Pharaoh's

to connect with their subjects.

Once the Pharaoh's name
was carved onto it,

the statue was
activated and became a bearer

of the king's soul.

The team immediately spot
some surprising evidence

that this Ramses
statue was altered after

it was first carved.

SIMON: So here, we
can see very quickly the

traces of modification.

You see it around the ears,

here under the arches of
the eyebrows and the eyes.

Here the mouth
has been modified,

the corners have been dug.

The ears have been changed.

There is very clear traces
of modification or re-carving.

NARRATOR: Although
the name on the statue
is Ramses the Second,

could it have started
out as someone else's name?

To find out Simon and Eid
need to compare the details

with an original unaltered
Ramses statue,

to see what his statues
really looked like.

NARRATOR: Outside the
Egyptian museum in Cairo,

Simon and Eid spot a stunning
statue carved from granite.

They search for clues that
it's a genuine statue of

Ramses the Great.

EID: The way the King
holds two standards

completely started with Ramses.

EID (off-screen): Clearly this
statue was made during his

own reign for himself.

NARRATOR: This statue seems
to be looking right at them.

SIMON: The eyes
are looking down.

Ramses looked at the people.

NARRATOR: Unlike
Pharaohs gone before,

whose eyes looked
to the horizon,

Ramses used his statues
to connect with his people.

His direct eye contact is a
powerful way to instill awe.

Simon and Eid return to inside
the museum to compare their

findings with the seemingly
modified Ramses statue.

Sure enough it has
Ramses' eye-line.

SIMON: The sculptors
get under the eye,

they cut here on the eyelid.

The idea was to produce
a heavy upper eyelid.

NARRATOR: The eyelid
and downward eye-line is

a later modification.

Incredibly, an unmodified
version of this exact same

statue exists in
another museum.

This clearly shows that
the eyes would have looked

straight ahead
when first carved.

Simon and Eid
spot more evidence.

SIMON: Here we see
traces of modification of

the feature of the eyebrows,

enough to create the
arches of the eyebrows.

So here the sculptor
wanted this part to protrude.

NARRATOR: Even the cobra
on the crown was re-cut

to the style of Ramses'
19th Dynasty snake.

SIMON: They wanted the snake
to have this double loop on

either side of the hook,
so when statues have to be

Ramesized, we have to produce
these little features.

NARRATOR: It's powerful
evidence that Ramses altered

an older statue to
look like one of his.

SIMON: This statue clearly
was not Ramses originally.

It was another King.

NARRATOR: So if this
isn't Ramses, who is it?

SIMON: We have
an alternation between one

thick stripes and two thin.

One thick, two thin,
one thick, two thin.

These detail is typical
of the 12th Dynasty,

so around 600 years before
the reign of Ramses.

NARRATOR: They can't tell
exactly which Pharaoh the

statue was for originally,

but it's clear evidence that
Ramses modified older statues

to proclaim his power
across Egypt quickly.

SIMON: The intention was really
to choose specific statues,

beautiful ones, big
ones of prestigious ancestors,

to re-embody them.

NARRATOR: Ramses deliberately
left evidence of the former

Kings in the statues.

He wasn't trying to
steal their identities.

He was using the reputation
of his most illustrious

ancestors to exert and
increase his own power.

SIMON: They had an aura,
they had a prestige,

and the idea was to show
that they were ancient,

but that he was the new them.

NARRATOR: Recent evidence
reveals that nearly

one-quarter of Ramses statues
throughout Egypt,

originally belonged
to other Pharaohs.

Ramses simply re-carved them,

claiming them as his own.

But further investigation of
some statues proves tricky,

because of ancient
damage done to them.

SIMON (off-screen):
Two things mostly missing.

The head of the uraeus
and here the nose.

It has been completely erased,
really carefully chipped off.

So the statue is broken,

and it's 90% of cases
in Egyptian statues,

all of them were intentionally
chipped off, cut off.

NARRATOR: Ramses used this
statue and others as his

magical avatar
across his kingdom,

but once no longer ruler,

his statues needed
to be deactivated.

SIMON: You need to
remove the magic from the
objects by killing it.

So you remove the nose,
you remove the uraeus.

He's not real anymore,
he's just a piece of stone.

NARRATOR: Today Ramses'
statues help piece together

the mighty Pharaoh's rule,

and act as vital evidence
for how he used them to

become the greatest
ruler of ancient Egypt.

In Luxor's Deir El-Bahari,

in a vast necropolis full
of Ramses' nobles' tombs,

Fathi's on the brink
of a new discovery:

an unopened tomb hidden
for thousands of years
beneath the desert sands..

FATHI: Wow, here is
the top of the door.

It's quite dark,
full of debris.

NARRATOR: Fathi believes
this tomb will provide clues

as to why tomb
owners chose this site,

and reveal information
about Ramses' prosperous

reign as Pharaoh.

He needs to get inside,

but the debris is
blocking the entrance.

FATHI: We can't
see any decorations

there's too much debris.

We have to arrive at the bedrock

of the door before we enter.

We have to follow the nature
of the debris, layer by layer.

At least two meters to go.

NARRATOR: For several days,

the team hauls tons
of sand and soil

under the burning sun.

But finally, they
uncover the full entrance.

FATHI (off-screen): I'm
waiting one month to enter,

so it is a very
special moment.

Now I can go inside.

Wow.

♪ ♪

FATHI (off-screen):
Wait, there's a huge
tomb full of debris.

Okay, the ceiling is
not in good condition.

NARRATOR: In Luxor's
Deir El-Bahari,

in a necropolis used
by Ramses' nobles,

Fathi enters a new tomb
for the first time.

He wants to know why elites
chose this low-lying site for

their necropolis,
and what that might reveal

about Ramses' reign.

He's looking for inscriptions,

but the room's 25 by
12-foot walls are bare.

FATHI: I cannot
see an inscription.

NARRATOR: Now he must
launch a painstaking
search of the debris,

to look for other kinds of
evidence that could provide

clues as to why the
nobles of Ramses the Great

chose to bury their dead here.

FATHI: I see some pottery here
and some baskets also.

FATHI: Wow.

FATHI: It's so beautiful because

it is not common to
find a complete jar.

Hopefully this kind of pottery
helps us also for information

why the tomb owner located
his tomb here.

I see another thing here also.

FATHI: Wow.

FATHI: Looks like a nice basket

and it's great because
it's in good condition.

NARRATOR: The ancient items
are perfectly preserved,

but they will start to
degrade in the open air.

Fathi takes them straight
to the conservation lab for

further study.

(speaking in native language)

FATHI: He has to use the air

to be sure there isn't
any more dust inside it.

He'll try to strengthen it
with another liquid material

and we can open it.

NARRATOR: The stunning
basket and pot are
in such great condition,

that it's unlikely these
are burial goods placed next

to the deceased in
the burial chamber.

But rather offerings
by family members,

placed in mourning at
the tomb's entrance,

as part of an ancient festival
specific to this area.

FATHI: Could be for
the Beautiful Festival
of the Valley.

This basket could be
used for food or fruits.

NARRATOR: Every year on
the first new moon of May,

crowds gathered at Karnak
temple with offerings of food

and masses of flowers.

They processed behind a
boat carrying the image of

the god, Amun, and crossed
the Nile to the west bank,

land of the dead.

The procession passed
the temples of the Kings,

and then they made their way
to the Temple of Hatshepsut.

Families broke away to visit
the tombs of their relatives,

where they made offerings
of food and flowers,

and feasted through the
night with the dead.

Fathi's finds suggest that
nobles, including those of
Rameses the Great

chose this site for their burial

because of its
excellent location

for the Beautiful
Festival of the Valley.

These tombs would have been
the last stop before the

procession ended at
the nearby Hatshepstut Temple,

so prime real estate
to receive offerings.

FATHI: In that case,
if their tomb is here,

it means they will
get more offerings,

more flowers, more
food, more drink.

The deceased, he will enjoy

and he will cheer for
the Beautiful Festival
of the Valley.

I'm so happy because

now we know why they
chose this area.

NARRATOR:
Ramses' 66-year reign
was incredibly prosperous,

so he could afford to be
generous with his subjects.

He continues the Beautiful
Festival of the Valley,

along with dozens
of other festivals,

even organizing an
annual 24-day feast,

making him popular
with the masses and

increasing his power.

For Fathi and his team,

it's been a
very successful dig,

and they hope this will
just be the start of their

discoveries here.

FATHI: We will continue our work
for the rest of the tomb.

NARRATOR: In Saqqara,

Ola is exploring a hidden
chamber in the tomb of one of

Ramses military commanders,
General Iwrkhy.

She hopes to uncover
how these generals
helped his rise to power,

and how he
rewarded them in return.

But the tomb is a mess of
artifacts buried under rubble

with skeletons
scattered throughout.

It's a clear sign to Ola
that robbers looted this tomb

thousands of years ago.

Ola makes a start on the
funerary items the robbers

left behind.

OLA: We have a
puzzle everywhere.

Sometimes you find many
fragments of the same jar,

we have to put them together.

NARRATOR: One jar in
particular stands out.

OLA: You see this here,
it's a crown with horns

and sun disk here.

This is a deity, maybe Hathor.

NARRATOR: The stunning
pot shows Hathor,

the goddess of love,
who takes the form of a cow,

but no information
about Iwrkhy.

Hidden in the debris, something
else catches Ola's eye.

OLA: Oo-oo-oo-ooh.
Beautiful, my God!

NARRATOR: Ola has made
a major discovery.

She hopes it will provide
clues as to how Ramses'

generals helped
his rise to power,

and how he rewarded
them in return.

OLA: This is the first time
we have something so clear.

This is the head of one
of the canopic jars.

It's beautiful, you
see the wig, the ears.

Oh my god.

NARRATOR: This canopic jar
head is part of the funerary

goods buried in the
tomb of Ramses' head general

called Iwrkhy.

They hold the
mummy's vital organs,

so they can live again
and reuse their organs
in the afterlife.

OLA (off-screen): So beautiful.

And the cheek is so smooth.

Finding this is like
a treasure also,

because it's very indicative
of lots of other things.

NARRATOR: If these decorative
items belong to Iwrkhy,

it proves he and his
family were highly rewarded

by Ramses the Great.

Alabaster was a
prized material,

thought of as
desirable by the gods.

If this was Iwrkhy's
it's evidence he had a

very luxurious burial.

It's a rare find.

But there's more treasure
beneath the debris.

OLA (off-screen): Okay, now
we have a block coming out.

Let's see.

Oh my God!

(laughs).

NARRATOR: Hidden under the
sand for thousands of years,

the block is covered
in inscriptions.

OLA (off-screen): They're
all kneeling on the ground and

weeping and mourning.

NARRATOR: Beautiful carvings
on the blocks' underside,

reveal distraught funeral
mourners convulsed in grief.

It's a religious scene,

depicting the sacred
funerary rites for the

tomb owner's burial.

OLA: It's not every day
that we find something
as big as that.

We cannot find the
name of the owner.

It needs to be taken into
the magazine and put together

again by the specialists.

NARRATOR: If they can
find the name of the tomb
owner in the inscriptions,

the block could prove that
Ramses' generals, like Iwrkhy,

were so important
they received elaborate

funerary processions as
part of Egypt's high society.

OLA: You'll find
a lot of things,

significant thing
that could help find

information about Iwrkhy.

NARRATOR: But Ola can't
see Iwrkhy's name yet,

nor any others.

She needs to find
more of the block to
piece together their names.

OLA: Well, it's a lot of
work still to be done,

but it is promising.

But, I might tell you
I have to go out before it

falls on our heads.

(laughs).

NARRATOR: With so many
finds inside the tomb,

and with so many rooms
still to excavate, for Ola,

this is simply the beginning.

OLA (off-screen): Of course,
it is part of the puzzle,

and it is part
of the suspense.

Any block we find
we are expecting to

find something important.

Fantastic,
fantastic, fantastic.

Three times fantastic.

(laughs).

NARRATOR:
In Egypt's far south,

Colleen investigates
Ramses the Great's legacy.

She wants to understand how
he became the most powerful

Pharaoh of ancient Egypt,

and why we still know
his name three millennia

after his death.

COLLEEN (off-screen):
This is Lake Nabta.

I'm at the southern border
of modern day Egypt and

just a few miles
upstream is Sudan.

But this is ancient Nubia.

This is where Ramses's armies
and his bureaucracy maintained

control over the
all-important gold resources

of ancient Egypt.

NARRATOR: Ramses and
other Pharaohs sourced vast

quantities of their
precious gold from Nubia.

Control of this area
allowed Ramses to trade the

gold and other goods
with the rest of Africa,

and over the
Red Sea with Asia.

And it is here that Ramses
chose to build one of his most

impressive temples,
Abu Simbel.

COLLEEN: Incredible.

No matter how many times
I see this monument,

I'm overwhelmed by
how massive it is.

The four colossal statues of
Ramses face the Nile River.

They would have been
visible at great distance,

making a statement of
Ramses' divine authority.

NARRATOR:
Here, in ancient Nubia,

Ramses wanted everyone
to know he was King and this

was his Empire.

Inside the temple walls,

Colleen finds a vast
record of Ramses' rule.

COLLEEN: This temple
is simply filled with
Ramses military victories.

Battles are everywhere.

NARRATOR:
But in a side chamber,

Colleen spots something
more intriguing

than military propaganda.

COLLEEN: This is such
a peculiar image.

So Ramses is offering
two jars of water,

and then there's an offering
table in front with two

baskets of fruit, topped
off with a lotus flower,

and below are two
loaves of bread.

These are the sorts of
offerings that Kings would

present to deities, and the
Coronation name of Ramses is

labelling the god who
the king worships.

This is not the king
offering to just any god,

but to his own deified self.

This is Ramses as King
offering to Ramses as a god.

Meaning that this temple
was a place where Ramses

could be worshipped for
generations to come.

NARRATOR:
Throughout his reign,

Ramses increased his power
through military glory and by

ultimately securing peace.

But it was by
making himself a god,

that he was able to secure
his legacy as Ramses the Great.

All Pharaohs deify
themselves before they die,

but Ramses the Great,
like everything else,

did it bigger and better,

building grander temples
to be worshipped from,

and proclaiming his
divine right to rule more times

than any other.

COLLEEN: Abu Simbel and
Karnak Temple are among the
greatest wonders of the world,

but in ancient Egypt,

to have your name repeated,

granted you immortality
in the afterlife.

We know that nine more
Pharaohs were named Ramses,

and we're still
repeating his name today.

He truly lives forever.

NARRATOR: Every season,
ongoing excavations are

uncovering new evidence
about what made Ramses the

most powerful and successful
ruler of ancient Egypt.

Hundreds of temples
and monuments show his

skill at propaganda.

His repurposing of statues
linked him to Egypt's

illustrious past rulers.

A mighty warrior, his peace
treaty reveals that he was an

outstanding diplomat.

He held expensive burials
for those loyal to him and

his lavish festivals show
that he shared the prosperity

of his long reign.

He truly was the greatest
of all Egypt's kings.